Mechanism for firing torpedoes.



T. S. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOBS. APPLIOATION FILED 00T.26, 1910.

1,094,963. Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IIIIIIIII:A\\\\\\\ H H I i W H l I NESSES' INVENTOR %iJWe/mfl ATTORNEY$alt/7 T. S. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOBS. APPLICATION FILED 001.25, 1910.

1,094,963. Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

6 fiHEETS-QHEET 2.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTORNEYS T. s. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPBDOES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 25, 1910. 1,094,963. Patented Apr. 28, 191

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ITNE v T. S. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.26, 1910.

LGQhQfiS Patented Apr. 28, 1914:. 77/ I 6 $HEETS-SHEET 4. 5W;

ATTORNEYS WINESSES:

T. S. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED OOT.25,1910.

Patented Apr. 28, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

.i/I1ii W A 4. a L 6 5 3 M 3 Hi a L7 3 L7 I 11 v 5 fi w 4 w fi A w 7 i AM 3 u "a m A 7 hw INVENTOR ATTORNEY;

T. S. BAILEY.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.25,1910.

Patented Apr, 28, 1914.

6 SHEETSSHEET 6.

[TA/E8858 INVENTOH ATTORNEYS rnnoponns s. BAILEY, or QUINCY,-mnssnonnsnr'rs.

MECHANISM FOR FIRING TORPEDOES.

Specification of Lett'ers Patent Patented Apr. 28,1914.

Application filed October 25,. 1910'. Serial no. status:-

i it is desired that the firing of the torpedoes may be controlled fromone or more distant stations, and in which the torpedoes are dischargedby admitting into the discharge tube, back of the torpedo, air or othersuitable fluid under pressure.

The particular nature and specific object of. the invention Will best beunderstood from the following description when read in connection withthe accompanying drawings,

' whichillustrate the preferred form of the invention applied to atorpedo tube installation of well known character, such as is nowcommonly used in submarine boats of the United States Navy.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a set of fourtorpedoftubes ar,- ranged in the end of a submarine boat, the tubesbeing equipped with improved firing and controlling mechanism inaccordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 shows in side elevationone pair of the torpedo tubes and the associated controlling and firingmechanism, as well as mechanism of standard type for turning the torpedotube cap to open and close the tubes; Fig. 3 illustrates a controlstation, and in this case shows the arrangement of control valves inproximity to the lower end of the periscopetube of a submarine boat, thecontrol valves bein within easy reach of an observer stan ing at theeye-piece of the periscope; Fig. 4-is a front elevation, partly insection, showing the expulsion valve, and the distributing valve intheir relation to the upper torpedo tube of each set, the main airsupply pipe with its two branches and controlling valves being removed,to simplify the illustration; Figs. 5 and 6 were spectively'a centralvertical section and a' plan view of-the expulsion valve and asso ciatedpiston valve for removing the stopboltfrom the path of the torpedo; Fig.7 is a central vertical section of one of the control valves located atthe control station; Fi 8 is a central vertical section of a distriuting valve, the gearing whereby the distributing valve is actuated fromthe shaft of the torpedo tube cap being shown in elevatio'n; Fig. 9 is asection on the line 99 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a central vertical section,partly broken away, of. a submarine boat, showing in a diagrammaticmanner the relation of the apparatus of the'present. invention to thetorpedo installation and observation periscope of a submarine boat; andFig. 11 is an end view of the rotary torpedo-tube cap.

The arrangement of the four torpedo tubes, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and10 is according to the standard practice of the United States Navy, andsince this arrangement forms no part of the present invention, it isunnecessary to describe it further than to point out that the forwardends of the torpedo tubes are opened and closed by means of a rotatablecap. 76 actuated by the shaft 1 7 5, substantially as shown anddescribed in United States Letters Patents to Hugo E. Grieshaber, No.820,925, of May 15, 1906.

i The cap operating shaft 75 is centrally'located with respect to thefour tubes, 1, 2, 3, and 4, and carries a gear segment 5, which isadapted to be turned, by means of the :handle 6 and pinion 7, so as tobring the passages 77 in the cap into registry With and v to therebyopen tubes 1 and 4 or 2 and 3,

depending upon the direction in'which the cap is turned. The upstandingarm 8, and its actuating mechanism including the handwheel 9, seen inFig. 2, are provided for the purpose of giving fore and aft motion tothe cap, thus enabllng it to be drawn up tightly on the askets aroundthe outboard ends of the tuhe. The air or other compressed fiuidcomes'fr om the pressure tank (not shown) to the two sets of torpedotubes through the pipe 10, elbow. 11, and the branch conduits 12controlled by valves 13.

into the valve chambers of 'the four expulsion valves. This constructionwill best be understood from Figs. 1, 2, i and 6, it being rememberedthat in Figs. 4 and 6 the main air supply pipe with its two branches andvalves 13 are removed. From these. figures it will beseen that theelbows 11 with their branch conduits 12, stand upon the Hat flanges 15which surround the passage to the valve chamber 14 of the expulsionvalve. There are four expulsion valves, one for each of the torpedotubes,and though all four of them are mounted on the upper surfaces ofthe two upper torpedo tubes, each one is secured to a box-like casing16, the two cas-\ ings on the inner sides of the torpedo tubes 1 and 3communicating directly with those tubes, and the two outer casingscommunicating respectively with the tubes 2 and 4 through the conduits17 (see Figs. 1', 2 and 5).

The particular form of expulsion valve shown in the drawings forms nopart of the present invention, but is of the type disclosed and claimedin the United States patent to Gregory G. Davison, Number- 1,003,993,and the construction will be und erstood from Figs. 5 and 6, which showthis art of-the mechanism in detail.

. Within the casing 14 of each expulsion valve is a stem 18 carrying atone end the main valve 19, which controls the passage to the torpedotube, and at the other end a differential element such as a diaphragm orpiston 20, so that the air or other fluid under pressure is admitted tothe valve chamber between the main valve 19 and the differential piston.The exposed area of the differential piston is preferably somewhatlarger than the exposed area of the valve 19, so that the pressure fromthe main reservoir tends to hold the valve 19 to its seat. It is,however, convenient .to provide, for the purpose of assisting in thisefl'ect, a coiled spring 21 surrounding the valve stem and tending toseat the main valve19.. Above the jexpulsion valve, and in a casingwhich maybe formed in the same casting, 1s a pistonvalve 22, normallyspring pressed by the spring 23 into the position shown inFig. 5

of the drawing. This piston valve controls the, duct 24 which leads tothe valve casing 14 at the rear of the differential piston 20, and itsstem 25 isconnected throughthe rod 26 with the mechanism commonlyemployed in connection with torpedo tube firing mechanism forwithdrawing from the path of the torpedo a stop bolt which projects intothe torpedo tube and lies in the path of the torpedo. Stop bolts of thischaracter are widely used and are fully illustrated and described in U.S. Letters Patentto Lawrence Y. Spear,'No. 871 ,453,

of November 19, 1907, for example, and, as will be understood by thoseskilled in the art, it is necessary to remove such stop from the path ofthe torpedo before the torpedo is discharged.

Associated with the above described apparatus and adapted to determinethe movements of the piston valves 22, to thereby control the firing ofthe torpedoes, is a system of pressure pipes leading to the distantcontrol station or stations. It will be obor other served that tappedinto the head of the easing of each of the piston valves 22, is a smallpressure pipe, these pipes being numbered 27, 28, 29 and 30 on thedrawing. It would-be feasible to lead each of said pipes directly to thedistant control station, and provide each of them, at that station, orat each of the distant stations, with a control valve, and such anarrangement is, broadly considered, within the scope of the presentinvention. For the purpose of simplifying the system and adding to thesafety thereof, however, I provide two distributing cocks 31 and 32,together with mechanism for actuating said cocks from the cap actuatingshaft, in a manner which will be hereinafter described more in detail,and lead the two pressure pipes 27 and 28 to one of the cocks and thetwo pressure pipes 29 and 30 to the other cock. From each of the cooksthere extends to the distant control station or stations, a pressurepipe, those pipes being indicated by the reference numerals 33 and 34 onthe drawings. A distant control station-at the eye-piece of theperiscope tube is indicated in Fig. 10, and shown in detail in Fig. 3,and it will be observed thateach of the pipes 33 and 34 leads to aseparate control valve 35 and 36 respectively. Each'of the controlvalves is connected by the pipe 37, to a source of air fluid underpressure, such a source being always available on a submarine boat 7 orwherever torpedoes are to be discharged by such fluid. The pipe 37 ispreferably provided with a shut-off cook 38 adapted to control theconnection with the source of pressure. The valves 35 and 36 are ofiden- ..tical construction, and one of them is shown in detailin Fig. 7,from which it will be seen that thevalve is supported on a plate aboutthe lower end of the periscope tube, and which forms part of the sup ortfor said tube. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, manytypes of valves are suitable for this purpose, but the particular oneillustrated comprises a piston 59 sliding in a short pipe section 39,and normally pressed by the spring 40 into the closed position asillustrated in Fig. 7. The stem 41 0f the valve extends upwardly througha gland 42 and is connected by the pin 43 to the lever arm 44 pivoted at45 on the upstahding'bracket 46. Connected to the outer end of the leverarm '44 is a pull rod 47 passing down through the plate on which thevalve is supported and terminating in -a handle 48 in position to beconveniently manipulated by the observer at the periscope tube. Theperiscope here shown is of the binocular type which is now in use in theUnited States Navy and is mounted for rotation in the manner indicatedin Fig. 3, from which it will be seen that the periscope tube 60 passesthrough the plate 01, which supports the control valves 35 and 36 andthe tube has below the plate theordinary eye-piece portion 62, togetherwith an annular gear 63 surrounding the tube and fixed to the plate 61.The eye-piece portion carries a bearing sleeve 64 for a stub shaft whichhas at its upper end a pinion 65 and at its lower end a hand-wheel 66,so that by turning the hand-Wheel the periscope tube may be rotated.This type of periscope tube is shown and described in United StatesLetters Patent to G. G. Davison, No. 97 0431, dated Sept. 13, 1910, andis used in connection with a direction indicator so constructed thatwhen the axis of the boat coincides 'Wlllh the direction in which thetorpedois to be fired, an alarm is sounded as an indication of theinstant when the torpedo should be fired.

The details of the distributing cocks will be understood from Figs. 8and 9 which show in detail'one of the cooks and its actuating mechanism.Each of these devices comprises a conical plug 49 fitted into a casing50 and spring pressed to its seat by the coiled spring 51. The shaft ofthe plug extends through the hub of a gear segment 52, which is splinedto the shaft, and then through a bearing in the bracket 53. Fixed to theend of the shaft is a quadrant meshing with inion 56 on the shaft of thecap actuating andle 6 (see Figs. 2, 4 and 8.)v The plug 49 contains aduct 57 which, in the position indicated in Fig. 9, which corresponds tothe closed position'of the cap, is out of communication with all ofthe-pipes 27, 28 and 33 which are tapped into the easing 50. When thehandle 6 is rotated to turn the cap. in one direction or the other,segment 55 is caused to rotate by pinion 56, and the middle gear oftrain 58 being keyed to the segment shaft is also caused to turn, thusimparting circular motion through the other gears of train 58 to thequadrants 52, which are keyed to\the plug shafts. (See Fig. 4.) If thehandle 6 is turned in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 1, the gearsegment 5 is turned totheleft. This movement turns 'the gear segment 55,and the shaft to which it is keyed, to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4,and through the intermediate gear of the train 58, and the two idlegears, turns both segments 52 in a counterclockwise direction as viewedin that figure.

This turns the plugs of cocks 31 and 32in a.

counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4, and will put pipe 28into communication with pipe 33, and pipe 30 into com iunication withpipe 34, the ducts in the plugs of cocks 31 and 32 being properly arraned for that purpose. It will be seen that y this construction thecontrol valves 35 and 36 are automatically put into communication withthose torpedo tubes which are open and readyfor firing. If the handle 6had been rotated in the other direction the tubes 2 and 3 would havebeen opened and the plugs of cocks 31 and 32 moved in such direction asto put the pipes 33 and 34 into communication with the pipes 27 and 29respectively. It Will be understood that'when this opening of the caphas been effected, and the valves 13 have been opened, two ofthe tubesare ready for firing, one of them being under the control of the controlvalve 35 and the other under the control of the control valve 36. Theman at the observing station has .now complete control of the firing ofthe ,bolt and opening the passage 24, whereupon the pressure fluid flowsinto the valve chamber of the expulsion valve back of the differentialpiston 20, and forces valve stem 18 to the right and valve 19 olf itsseat, thereby admitting the pressure in chamber 14 to the torpedo tubeand discharging the torpedo.

It will be observed that the installation above described embodies manydetails of construction which in themselves are capable of considerablemechanical variation, and though the preferred form embodies anarrangement in which the control is elfected by means of air or otherfluid under-pressure, nevertheless it is broadly new,-so fa. as I amaware, to provide a connection between the tube-opening means and thefiring mechanism of a plurality of torpedoes such that the movement ofthe tube-opening means automatically renders inoperative the controllingmechanism for those firing devices associated with the closed tor edotubes, and simultaneously renders effective the c0ntrolling devices ofthe firing mechanism of those torpedo tubes which have been opened.Obviously such connection isapplicable whether the firing-control iseffected by means of fluid ressure or otherwise. I also believe it to beroadly new to associate controlling devices for a plurality of torpedofirin means With the periscope of a submarine boat, in such manner thatthe controlling devices may be conveniently manipulated by the observerat the periscope.

Having thus described my invention what I'claim'is:

l. A torpedo tube installation comprising &

firing mechanism, such that-the actuation ofa plurality of tubes havingtube opening mechanism and firing mechanism associated therewith, incombination with a firing control device common to a plurality of thefiring mechanisms and connections between the tube opening mechanism andsaid firing I control device, such that the actuation of the tubeopening mechanism automatically connects the firing control to. the opentube; substantially as described.

3. In mechanism. for firing torpedoes from any one of a plurality oftubes hav-' ing cap-operating means adapted to open less than the wholenumber of tubes, an expulsion valve for each tube, in combination withcontrolling mechanism for said valves, and connections between thecap-operating means and the controlling mechanism adapted toautomatically disconnect the controlling mechanism from the closed:tubes and connect it with the open tube or tubes; substantially asdescribed.

t. A torpedo tube installation comprising a plurality of tubes havingtube opening mechanism and firing mechanism associated therewith, incombination with a plurality ofv firing control devices located at adistant station and of less number than the number of tubes andintermediate .connections responsive to the movement of the tube openingmechanism and adapted to automatically connect a distant firing controldevice to the firing mechanism of each open tube; substantially asdescribed.

5.1m mechanism for firing torpedoes from any one of a plurality of tubeshaving means adapted to open-less than the whole number of tubes, anexpulsion valve for each tube, controlling means therefor located at adistant station, and connections between said means and the expulsionvalves, said connections including mechanism responsive to the movementof the tube-opening means and adapted to auto- '"matically disconnectthe controlling means from the closed tubes and connect itxwith the opentube or tubes; substantially as de scribed.

6. In mechanism for firing tor edoes from any one of a plurality oftubes aving cap-operating means adapted to open less than the wholenumber of tubes, an expulsion valve for each tube, a control valve andconnections betweenthe control valve and the "expulsion valves, saidconnections including a distributing valve connected to the capoperating means and adapted to automatically connect the control valvewith the open tube and disconnect it from the remainder of said tubes;substantially as described.

7. In mechanism Ior firing torpedoes from any one of a plurality oftubes, having a. cap-operating means adapted to open less than the wholenumber of tubes, an expulsion valve for each tube, connections for ac-.tuating the expulsion valves including a distributing valve connectedto the cap-operating means and controlling the connections to aplurality of tubes, a pressure pipe extending from the distributingvalve to a distantstation-and a control valve for said pipe at thedistant station, said distributing valve being so connected as toautomatically connect the control valve to the open tube and disconnectit from the remainder of said tubes; substantially as described.

8. In mechanism for firin torpedoes from any one of a plurality 0% tubeshaviiig means adapted to open less than the whole number of'tubes, anexpulsion valve for each tube having a main valve controllingcommunication with the tube, an equalizing element connected to the stemof said valve, {and connections for admitting fluid under pressurebetween the main valve and the equalizing element, in combination withconnections for admitting fluid under pressure to the other side of eachof the several equalizing elements to open the main valves, said lastnamed connections including control pipes extendingto a distant controlstation, valves at said station for admitting pressure fluid to saidpipes, and connections between the tube-opening'means and said pipesadapted to automatically connect the control pipes to the valves of theopen tubes; substantially as described.

9. In a mechanism. for firing torpedoes from any one of a plurality oftubes having cap-operating means adapted to open less than the wholenumber of tubes, an expulsion valve for each tube having a main valvecontrglling communication with the torpedo tube anequalizing elementconnected to the stem of said'valve, and connections for admitting fluidunder pressure between the main valve and the equalizing element, incombination with connections for admitting fluid under pressure to theother side of each of the several equalizing elements to open the mainvalves, said connections including control pipescxtending to a distantcontrol station, valves at said station for admitting pressure fluid tosaid pipes, and connections between the cap operating means andsaid'pipes adapted to automatically shut ofl' connection between thecontrol pipes and the valves of the closed tubes and open connectionbetween the said pipes and the valves of the open tubes; substantiallyas described.

10. In mechanism for releasing and firing a torpedo from its tube, anexpulsion valve ing a piston adapted to be Connected to for the tubehaving a main valve controlthe torpedo stop-releasing mechanism, andling communication with the tube, an equala control valve in saidlast-named connecizing element. connected to thestem of..said tions;substantially as described. 5 valve, connections for admitting fluidunder Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature, 15 7 pressure betweenthe main valve and the in presence of two witnesses.

equalizin element, connections for ad- I THEODORUS BAILEY. mltting uidunder pressure to the other Witnesses: sideof said 1 equalizing elementto'open F. L. BRAKE,

10 the main valve, said connect-ions includ- J. E. FITZGERALD, Jr.

